Madras High Court allows new year celebrations in Pondicherry, imposes restrictions on sale of liquor

The Madras High Court on Wednesday allowed New Year celebrations in neighbouring Puducherry, but imposed restrictions on the sale of liquor. The Bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the order on a petition from G A Jagannathan, a resident of Puducherry, seeking a ban on the celebrations citing the covid spread.

He pointed out neighbouring Tamil Nadu and other states, including Karnataka, had not given the nod to the celebrations.

The court, however, directed that liquor should not be sold between 10 PM on December 31 and 1 AM on January 1, 2022.


The petitioner contended the government of Puducherry allowed New Year celebrations without reference to the ground realities and the same may result in spread of COVID-19/Omicron.